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Abstract

We propose and develop an intensity-detection-based refractive-index (RI) sensor for low-cost, rapid RI sensing. The sensor is composed of a polymer bent ridge waveguide (BRWG) structure on a low-cost glass substrate and is integrated with a microfluidic channel. Different-RI solutions flowing through the BRWG sensing region induce output optical power variations caused by optical bend losses, enabling simple and real-time RI detection. Additionally, the sensors are fabricated using rapid and cost-effective vacuum-less processes, attaining the low cost and high throughput required for mass production. A good RI solution of 5.31 10−4 × RIU−1 is achieved from the RI experiments. This study demonstrates mass-producible and compact RI sensors for rapid and sensitive chemical analysis and biomedical sensing.

Fig. 5 (a) Real-time responses of the sensing system for solutions with different refractive indices (RIs). The inset shows the emission spectrum of the LED light source. (b) Calibration curves of the normalized average intensities and the RI of the sample solutions. The mean values and error bars (represents the standard deviation) are obtained from six experiments using three different RI sensor chips.

Fig. 7 (a) Calculated transmittances and (b) normalized transmittances as a function of refractive index of the solution for the bent ridge waveguide structure with different bending angles. (c) Calculated normalized sensitivity as a function of waveguide width and bending angle. The normalized sensitivity is more pronounced for narrow waveguide width and larger bending angle.